Numbers 21:4-9
The Essence of Salvation

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food."

Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

New Revised Standard Version

This story speaks in so many ways! Let me draw three ideas from it in this meditation.

First, God answers our prayers in God's way. Notice that when the people asked for forgiveness, they asked that God take the snakes away. Instead, God prepares a way for people who are bitten by the snakes to be healed. At times when we want God to take away from us problems and difficulties, we need to rejoice when God answers with a way to cope. As a popular song says it, "Sometimes He calms the storm, and other times He calms His child."

Second, God sometimes requires us to actively accept gifts. All the people had to do was to look at the bronze snake--but they did have to make that effort. Those who were bitten had to show some faith, and put that faith into action, even though their action was minor compared to God's healing action. The same truth holds with any other area of our faith. If we aren't willing to take action, then our faith doesn't count for anything and we can't expect our faith to produce blessings.

Finally, in the image of the bronze snake lifted up on the pole, we see a foreshadowing of the crucifixion of Christ. Jesus explained that to Nicodemus in John 3:14, although no one but Jesus understood how literally Jesus would follow that Old Testament image.

In just that same way, we should reexamine our faith and response to Jesus as demonstrated by the bronze snake. Why would anyone bitten by a snake not go out to look at the bronze snake? But thousands refuse to accept salvation from Jesus. Why would anyone believe they had "earned" healing from the act of looking at the snake? But many treat their salvation as a "birthright" instead of a blessing and a gift. Why would anyone not encourage and urge those bitten to look at the brass snake? But we too often pull back from sharing the Good News of God's love through Jesus with people who are aching to hear good news.

We often have problems recognizing how much the God portrayed in the Old Testament loves us, but God has always been and will always be the same. This quick story reminds us that the essence of salvation and faith really is this simple, and really is this critically urgent.